Sign of the Times: New Yorkers don't know Washington's not on the coast

One of the reasons I've never had any interest in living in Washington is that it's so far from the coast. And I love the coast.

But maybe I'll load my surfboards in the wagon next time I head down that way. It turns out D.C. is on the coast after all.

I learned that surprising fact when I picked up my Sunday New York Times. The Dec. 12 Book Review has a review by Elizabeth Royte of "Fraser's Penguins: A Journey to the Future in Antarctica" by Fen Montaigne.

The book sounds interesting, and I would certainly give it a read. But the reviewer sets off on a screed about the impending horrors of global warming that includes this passage (italics are mine):

"Should the West Antarctic Ice Sheet continue to melt, gobal sea levels could rise dramatically, in one NASA scientist's opinion inundating Washington - and other coastal cities - by the end of this century."

Hold the heck on, lady! Washington is not a coastal city. It's inland, way inland, a good 100 miles from the ocean. Most of the city is situated far above sea level. There is zero possibility of it being inundated by any foreseeable rise in sea level.

I did a web search and could find no record of any scientist, from NASA or anywhere else, bringing up the prospect of D.C. drowning.

I have heard speculation that New York City could theoretically be inundated. These were scenarios that involved hurricanes pushing water down the Long Island Sound.

But New York City really is a coastal city. In fact it's the coastal city where the New York Times is published.

Didn't a single editor look at that sentence and call up the writer to say, "Honey, Washington ain't on the coast."

Apparently not. But if the Times can something that obvious that wrong, how can you trust the paper to an honest look at global-warming alarmism?

The writer also tells of warmer sea temperatures in the region and then tells us the ocean is 34 degrees in the area where the penguin lives.

As someone who has surfed many a winter here in Jersey, I can reliably inform her that 34-degree water is not warm water. In fact, any water that gets much colder than 34 degrees goes by a different name: Ice.

As I've said before and will say again: These New Yorkers need to get out more.

ALSO: Good thing they didn't hold that international global-warming summit inside the Metrodome.

Note this from the Drudge Report. Drudge loves linking to cold weather events, such as the blizzard that caused the collapse of the Metrodome roof, thus delaying Monday night's game between the Giants and the Vikings.

As I've noted, whenever that happens we hear from climate scientologists who tell us all that snow is really a symptom of global warming.

In fact, it's more snow, not less, that is supposedly causing those penguins to perish.

It's possible to stretch any theory to infinity, I guess, but the people who pay the heating bills only have so much patience.